章節 44: Fierce Challengers
The audience expected much from Argonaut, and they weren't disappointed. From the moment he stepped into the prison, he showed off a level of skill Leo himself had only seen in two other players since the Abyss launched.
"Did he just grab that bloodhorn by the horns?" Maestro asked in disbelief. "And now he's gutting it with his sword… impressive."
"Oh, a second bloodhorn's about to ram straight into his back," Donatella reported. "And he escapes by climbing onto the first one… Oh, Lord of Death, what quick reflexes Argonaut has."
Donatella was referring to how Argonaut had just backflipped from his first kill onto the back of his second bloodhorn.
"You'd think he'd be hard-pressed to jump around with that scale armor he's wearing," Maestro chuckled. "And he slays his second opponent quicker than Bully the Kid did."
Argonaut traveled through the prison like a juggernaut, destroying every enemy he encountered.
A fel arachnid hanging on the ceiling of a prison cell fell at the hands of Argonaut's round shield which he'd tossed up at the shadow beast like a Frisbee. This earned him enthusiastic shrieks from the audience that likened him to a certain star-spangled hero from the old days of superhero cinema.
By the time he was nearly gassed out, he'd slaughtered a total of twelve shadow beasts, including a chimera which he'd slain by cutting off each of its three heads with the aid of the Eldritch Champion ability [Heat Blade]. As everyone knew that Black Howler had bested a chimera at level one, this victory of Argonaut's only intensified the comparison the audience had between the two.
"That's the stuff," Morgana said approvingly. "I'm glad we now have a hero-type in our roster too."
Leo chuckled at her words for he knew Morgana was looking for different types of souls to serve in her army. Ath3na and Black Howler each checked two boxes themselves, the leader and the berserker.
"I never imagined a sword and shield combo would be so effective in a solo fight," Maestro commented.
"I believe he has it in him to challenge one more shadow beast… and quite an interesting one has shown up," Donatella announced.
In an open courtyard within the prison, Argonaut's last opponent was a creature straight out of legend. It had the head and front half of a golden eagle with ten-foot wings stretching out of its back while its hindquarters were that of a giant cat's.
There was another collective "Oo~oh" from the crowd as the griffin landed in front of the challenger.
"Yes, yes, it's a beautiful beast," Morgana conceded. "But it makes a terrible pet…"
Leo as Maestro sent her a sidelong glance that was accompanied by a raised eyebrow. "You tamed a griffin?"
"I've tamed many wild beasts, Leo," she smiled a devilish smile back at him.
Luckily for Leo, he didn't need to respond to whatever that was as his attentions were quickly brought back to Argonaut who had just torn one of the wings from the griffin's back.
"That's an excellent way to keep it off the air," Donatella noted. "And he blocks its claws with his shield once again."
Eventually, Argonaut dealt the griffin the final blow with a well-placed [Eldritch Strike] of his sword right between the griffin's eyes.
After this thirteenth kill and to everyone's surprise, Argonaut raised his hand and said, "I give up."
He returned to the Arena to thunderous applause and more than a few puzzled looks as all could see that he was no worse for wear.
Donatella dropped down to the arena herself so she could get a comment on his current state, to which he replied with, "That last battle left me winded, and I knew that my condition would only worsen if I kept at it… so I decided to reserve my strength for the next round, ma'am."
More raucous cheering ensued as Argonaut waved at the audience, and Leo thought that the man definitely knew how to work the crowd.
If Argonaut was a shining beacon of manliness, the challenger who came after him came off as brash and arrogant. Narukami stepped into the dark pool with little fanfare as he actively ignored the audience watching him.
"A man of few words," Donatella commented.
"That's because his actions often speak for themselves," Maestro insisted.
And he was right to say so for Narukami didn't hesitate to unleash the full power of a stormchaser against the shadow beasts he came up against.
Apart from the griffin, which he encountered first and fried to death with a timely [Lightning Bolt], Narukami's next opponents were shadow beasts that hadn't been seen previously.
The first enemies were two black wolves that were the size of a sports car. Each had dark fur that clung to the shadows much like Cyborg Ninja's [Shadow Step] did.
"Dread Wolves are known to be the king of the plains," Donatella explained. "Fast and deadly and almost always moving around in packs, they're predators that rarely fail to devour their prey."
Although Donatella had much to say about them, for Narukami who could move as fast as lightning, the Dread Wolves could barely catch up. In fact, it seemed more like he was chasing them than the other way around. Eventually, a combination of [Chain Lightning] over a puddle of water that he'd created with [Rainfall] finished off the two wolves.
"That was an interesting trap he set there," Maestro noted. "It didn't even take him long to set it up."
"A good application of the abilities he's been gifted," Donatella agreed. "He's quite capable."
Narukami would continue to mix tactics with arcane might as he lured five fadeshears — two-legged crustaceans with thick, coral shells and two pincers attached to each arm that were so sharp they might as well have been scissors — into a courtyard where he'd laid an arcane sigil on the ground.
Once the shadow beasts had all stepped into this writing on the floor, Narukami yelled, Static Array!" and activated the trap that sent bolts of energy streaking up from the ground and into each fadeshear. By the time the trap was finished, most of the fadeshear were damaged badly and paralyzed. They were easy pickings then.
Perhaps the ability the audience wanted to see most came last when two nightmares — unicorn-like creatures but with a single curved blade instead of the single unicorn horn — attacked Narukami just as he'd finished off the final fadeshear.
He dodged their blade swipes and jumped up, and as he was suspended in the air, he made a fist with his hands and roared, Fist of—"
"—of Havoc!" the audience chanted with him.
A blow so strong it caused the surrounding air to explode outward from the point of impact slammed on the ground between the two nightmares, causing both shadow beasts to lose their balance. This made them susceptible to Narukami's dagger which he plunged into them again and again until both shattered into the thousands of tiny shards of glass that were then sucked up into the sky.
It was at this point that Narukami, looking very winded indeed, finally raised his hand and surrendered.
"Looks like he nearly depleted his soul core with all those high-level abilities he unleashed again and again," Maestro explained to the audience.
"Ten points to Narukami!" Donatella reported. "This earns him second place for now."
"I can't believe we assumed they'd only manage to kill five each," Maestro said with a shake of his head.
"Well, they can't all be great combatants, can they?" Donatella asked wryly.
She was quite wrong about that as the next challenger stepped up to the plate to the roar of her fan club, all of whom were now dressed in the blue Lyghtning t-shirt that Leo had rejected earlier.
"She really is incredibly popular, isn't she?" Morgana laughed. "I can't wait to see how she tops the last two acts."
"Cheer up, loves," Lyghtning yelled at the audience. "I'm here to—"
"—save the day!" her fan club yelled back at her.
Lyghtning bowed her head and then plunged head-first into the dark pool that would send her to the prison below.
The forums once discussed how Lyghtning could be more famous if she got out of Ath3na's shadow and started her own act. But Ath3na's constant companion showed the audience that she didn't need to be away from her friend to prove her strength. Indeed, it could be said that out of everyone who'd finished the challenge so far, Lyghtning's turn was the one that left the crowd with the greatest feeling of shock and awe.
Her first victims were three dread wolves whom she didn't bother to trap. She simply dealt them each a series of slashes that were amplified by her [Eviscerate] ability, leaving them so many wounds that it seemed a relief to the audience when they finally died.
"That was… brutal," Maestro whistled.
"An apt description for what we just witnessed," Donatella agreed.
Her next opponent was a bloodhorn which she dispatched by taking a page from Argonaut's book. She leaped onto its head, and with a single [Deathstroke], she pierced the bloodhorn's head with both of her shortswords.
"Honestly, why did we even think five was all they could slay?" Maestro asked his partner.
Donatella replied with, "I'm more interested in how easily they're dispatching shadow beasts that are supposed to be tough even for a level two."
Lyghtning's next opponents were four bone stags, dear like creatures with long necks and sharp bone antlers jutting out of their heads.
Although the bone stags did manage to repel Lyghtning's attacks with their antlers, they failed to notice that she'd merely made them dance to her tune as she led them to the edge of a deep pit. Once they were close enough, Lyghtning cut at their legs and kicked each stag into the pit. It took a while for them to fall, but the telltale signs of their deaths appeared once the shards of glass flew out of the hole and into the tubes on the ceiling.
Lyghtning's next two opponents were death stingers. These she dispatched quickly with just her skill with her blades.
The one who came after them, however, required all her strength to defeat.
It was a fifteen-foot shadow beast that had the shape of a man with charred armor covering it from head to foot. Only the eyes could be seen through the slits of its helmet, and they glowed with a bluish malevolence.
"Oh, my, she just had to run into the second-strongest shadow beast inside the prison," Donatella said with a shake of her head. "All of her efforts will be wasted after she dies."
"Let's not count her out yet," Maestro countered. "That Revenant Knight might have just met its match…"
Leo wouldn't admit it out loud, but he was definitely a member of Lyghtning's fan club, and she didn't disappoint him during this battle either. It was a long fight that Lyghtning just barely managed to win by using her two trump cards.
She summoned the [Seven Sword Blossoms] whose seven blades she'd aimed at the chinks between the revenant knight's armor thereby rendering it immobile long enough for her to prepare [Decapitation], an ability she'd earned from absorbing the essence that carried the Decapitator's will.
It wasn't a single stroke that cut off the giant's head but several well-placed slashes all aimed at a single spot, the neck.
When the Revenant Knight toppled over, the audience' cheers made the very walls of the arena vibrate.
Lyghtning retired afterward as she readily admitted to Donatella who'd come down for a word that she'd let it all out on the battlefield and she was exhausted.
Leo's clapping might have been among the loudest. It was a fact Morgana had pointed out to him.
"You're not allowed to be biased," she chided.
"Says the reaper who bet on Argonaut," Leo countered.
However, Lyghtning's triumph would be trumped rather quickly as the next challenger stepped up to the edge of the circle.
"This game is over," Ath3na announced to the audience. "I'm going to slay the remaining fifty shadow beasts."
創作者的想法 
GD_Cruz
GD_Cruz Greetings, fellow reapers!
This chapter ran away with my imagination... and I just couldn't stop writing about how cool these three challengers were which is why it's longer than usual. I hope you guys didn't mind. It's actually shortened already. I'm usually more in-depth when I write about battles but there are just so many instances in this chapter that I might have written ten thousand words and I still wouldn't be done — ergo this shorter retelling of their exploits.
I'm most excited about the next chapter though as I've been thinking about how Ath3na's turn was going to come up and how I wanted her to show off why exactly she's still player number one -- even with her addiction issues finally coming to light. Well, I hope you all enjoy it when it comes out. ;P
That said, it's a brand new month, and if you like the book, please support it with votes and gifts. A coffee a day energizes me to write more. Hahaha Peace!
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